It makes perfect sense that a town which served as home to a Hollywood movie based on a darn cat should have an actual feline show champion among its residents.

Now that town does.

Edgefield is now home to a cat with a very large title – Best in the World.

Claudia Dotter, of Edgefield, trained horses for 45 years before retiring to her hobby of breeding and showing cats. Her world champion, who captured 2010 Best of Breed International Snowshoe honors (one of 55 recognized breeds) by The International Cat Association recently, is named “Princess”.

Dotter says this is actually Princess’ first show season.

“She has great big blue eyes and her markings are what are considered perfect for the breed, with white feet with darker points and a light tan body,” Dotter said. “They have a standard on what they must have and what they must look like and she exemplifies those traits. I had some of the judges in Augusta who said I have to show her more because they said there aren’t as many good ones shown.”

Show cats like Princess accumulate points during a season, which runs from the end of April to the following May. There are 12 judges and contests last two days. Each cat earns a score for each day and an average of points from each day determines the winner.

Dotter says she attends around 10 shows per year.

“To win the best (breed) in the world is a big deal because there are only 55 breeds,” Claudia said. “She beat 39 cats in Augusta and most of those are handled by professional showers, as that’s what they do. But it is like a full time job sometimes.”

Dotter’s cats reside all over the country, and the world.

“I sold two this weekend,” she said. “I have cats here in the county. I have sent one to Israel and one to Wyoming. But I have some forever cats and Princess is one of them.”   

The Snowshoe is one of the more rare breeds of cat listed with TICA, as only around 800 are registered. Dotter says the breed is very suitable for either family life or the show trail.
 
“She doesn’t miss any meals as you can see, but they are a really nice breed of cat which are very family oriented,” she said. “I had never shown her before this season so she has been a real pleasant surprise. It’s been a really nice thing, and it’s neat for Edgefield too because you can’t win any bigger.”  

For more information on Claudia Dotter’s award-winning Snowshoe cats, visit online at www.snowshoes-snowcats.com.